At 100 years old, he joined the army in place of his granddaughter, and became a national war god.

Outside Haizhou City, smoke and fire filled the air.

On the battlefield, tattered flags lay askew in the mud, some already charred.

Corpses lay scattered on the ground, some belonging to Daqian soldiers, others to Dongyi soldiers, their blood flowing like a river, a horrifying sight.

Several gaps were smashed into the blue bricks of the city wall, and the black scorch marks left by burning oil were like scars etched on the gray-white wall surface.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of blood and smoke, a mixture that was nauseating.

……

The atmosphere was somber in the Dongyi camp outside the city.

Otomo Tetsumaru slammed the iron rod to the ground, his face trembling with menacing bulge.

"General! This is the third siege!"

"My vanguard battalion has suffered nearly 20% casualties!"

"What's going on with Miyako no Miyako? Why haven't they taken Nanjiang Pass yet! Every day we delay, we lose a lot of troops!"

Murakami Kaito nodded, his tone revealing barely concealed anxiety.

"My lord, I also feel something is amiss."

"While we draw attention to the front, Oden-no-miya's 30,000 troops are flanking and launching a surprise attack on the South Gate Estuary. By now, they should have succeeded."

"Even if something went wrong, there should be news coming back. But right now, there's not even a messenger..."

Takenaka Hyōe stood before the map, his gaze fixed on the winding river south of Haizhou City. His brows furrowed, and an ominous premonition grew stronger in his heart.

He turned to look at Ryunosuke, just as he was about to speak.

A hurried shout came from outside the tent.

"Report!"

Immediately afterwards, a messenger stumbled in.

"General! General Oden has sent someone!"

The people in the tent fell silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into a burst of long-suppressed excitement.

Ōtomo Tetsumaru was the first to burst into laughter, slamming his hand on the table: "I told you! Oden may be slow, but he definitely succeeded!"

Murakami Tou also breathed a sigh of relief, a slight smile playing on his lips: "It seems we've captured Nanguanjiangkou. With that, Haizhou City is now a sitting duck."

The guard in the bamboo grove breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that his plan had finally succeeded.

Ryunosuke stood up, his voice steady yet tinged with anticipation: "Let him in!"

The curtain was lifted.

Instead, a centurion appeared before them, soaking wet and looking utterly disheveled.

His robes were still dripping wet, his hair was disheveled and stuck to his forehead, his lips were pale, and his body was trembling.

As soon as he entered the tent, he knelt down on the ground with a thud, his voice hoarse, carrying a lingering fear of surviving a disaster.

"General...we've lost...we've lost..."

All the laughter inside the tent stopped abruptly.

Otomo Tesmaru's smile froze on his face, and he exclaimed in astonishment, "What did you say?"

The centurion, head bowed, continued, "South Gate Estuary... was not captured, General Oden... General Oden was killed."

Instantly, the entire military tent fell into a deathly silence.

Ryunosuke rushed to the centurion, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him up from the ground.

"What did you say? Oden was killed? And an army of 30,000 couldn't even take Nankan River Estuary?"

The centurion, struggling to breathe from the choking, dared not struggle and could only speak haltingly:

"That pass... there's an old man with white hair in that pass... he's terrifying... he guards the pass all by himself. General Miyamoto Yoshi was cleaved in two by him with a single stroke. General Hayashi, General Ohno, and General Sato all attacked together, but he killed them all with three strokes..."

Upon hearing this, Ryunosuke's mind went blank.

Thirty thousand troops, three deputy generals, and one commander-in-chief...

They were all wiped out at a pass guarded by only a few hundred men?

How is that possible?

He had fought for twenty years and had never seen anything so absurd.

The centurion continued speaking, his voice trembling more and more, as if he were recalling a nightmare.

"Three thousand of us charged forward, and that white-haired old man stood alone at the gate, unleashing a golden dragon with a single palm strike... shattering half of our vanguard battalion... That old man... he's not human!"

"Golden dragon? What golden dragon?"

Otomo Tetsumaru's eyes widened like copper bells.

"That's complete nonsense!"

"You've probably gone mad with fear, spouting nonsense!"

The centurion shook his head frantically.

"I'm not lying! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"That old man's hair was completely white; he looked to be probably in his eighties or nineties!"

"Riding a white horse, wielding a golden sword, he cleaved the horse and rider in two with a single stroke..."

"When General Oden retreated, he swung a long spear from the dock, which, from dozens of feet away, pinned General Oden to the stern of the ship!"

He looked up, his eyes filled with fear.

"General, that old man... he's terrifying."

"Our 30,000-strong army was blocked at the gate by him alone; no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't break through."

"He stood there like a city wall."

The guard's face changed completely. He gasped and a name popped into his mind.

He opened his mouth, his voice dry, and muttered, "The white-haired old man, could it be him?"

Seeing Takenaka's expression and hearing his words, Ryunosuke asked in confusion, "What, strategist, do you know this old man?"

Takenaka turned to look at Ryunosuke, his voice carrying a tension he himself was unaware of:

"General, an old man with white hair, holding a golden longsword, riding a white horse... This person must be Su Mu, the Duke of Zhenbei who slaughtered his way through the Northern Di in the northern border of Daqian."

hiss……

Shetland Sheepdog?

Ryunosuke gasped in surprise.

How could he have forgotten about this person?

A few days ago, he and the Bamboo Guards collected records of military generals in the Great Qian Dynasty, including records about Su Mu.

This man was over a hundred years old, yet he was able to reclaim the northern border and kill the Northern Di king.

At the time, he thought it was just a myth fabricated by the people of Daqian. But now, he suddenly felt that perhaps every single sentence in those intelligence reports was true.

The name "Su Mu" is like a stone, hitting everyone's heart.

For the first time, Otomo Tetsumaru fell silent.

He knew better than anyone the strength of the generals under Oden-no-miya.

Although not as good as him, he was definitely a fierce general in Dongyi.

Not to mention Oden-no-miya, whose skill was on par with his.

And that centenarian was able to pin him to the stern of the ship with a single spear from dozens of feet away!

Murakami Tou lowered his head, his eyes flickering uncertainly.

Takenaka Hyōe stood in front of the map, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the South Gate Estuary and Haizhou City.

His mind was racing.

He wondered if Su Mu's 100,000-strong army from the northern border had already marched south.

If that's the case, they will have no chance of winning this battle.

The tent remained quiet for a long time, with only the heavy breathing of the group remaining.

Ryunosuke slowly sat back in the main seat, resting his hands on his knees, his gaze fixed on the flickering oil lamp on the table, and remained silent for a long time.

His heart was filled with resentment and anger.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice low and deep: "Withdraw the troops and retreat back to Ninghai City."

Murakami Kaito looked up, a hint of surprise in his eyes: "General, are we just going to retreat like this?"

"What else can we do but withdraw?"

"Unable to break through from the front, Oden-no-miya's 30,000-strong army has collapsed and its morale has collapsed. Continuing to fight will only result in more casualties."

"There's one more thing," the guard in the bamboo grove added, "We don't know how many northern troops Su Mu, the Duke of Zhenbei, brought with him!"

"Even if we send 50,000 of the 100,000 northern troops, plus the more than 10,000 Daqian soldiers in Haizhou City, it will still be difficult for us to win."

"Therefore, we can only withdraw our troops and find out how many troops Su Mu must have brought before making a decision."

Once this was said, no one else could refute it.

Otomo Tesmaru slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Damn it! We finally made it to the gates of Haizhou City, and we're just going to retreat like this?"

"I'm so unwilling to accept this."

Ryunosuke stood up, walked to the tent entrance, and gazed at the gray-white city in the distance, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Su Mu... you'd better have brought the Northern Army with you."

"Otherwise, do you think a mere centenarian can stop the mighty army of the Eastern Barbarians? Do you think I, Shimazu Ryunosuke, would just admit defeat like that?"

"Absolutely impossible!"

He turned around abruptly, his voice firm.

"Order the entire army to break camp and retreat to Ninghai City! Rest for half a month and then redeploy."

"Once I've figured out Su Mu's background, I'll settle this score with him!"